Appeals court suspends suit on Google book scanning

NEW YORK (AFP) - An appeals court put on hold a long-running lawsuit over Google's massive book-scanning project on Monday, likely delaying a full hearing on the merits of the copyright issues in the case.

The US appeals court overruled a circuit judge who last month called for a hearing to go forward even as Google contested whether the case may be certified as a class action.

The appeal judges granted Google's motion to delay a hearing at the lower court, noting that the groups suing the Internet giant had indicated "that they consent to the stay, although not to the arguments put forward in the motion as to why Google expects to prevail on appeal".

The Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers filed the suit in 2005 alleging copyright infringement in Google's effort to digitise millions of books to be made available online.